1CG had kept its Warrior APCs and transport at the rear, in readiness to withdraw the battalion when the time came. The breakdown in command and control had cost them in personnel. The Guards don’t run and many of the dead had stayed in their fighting positions, lacking orders to the contrary until overrun. Had it not been for the command and control problems being equalised by a handheld Blowpipe missile, destroying a Czech two-seater attack helicopter that had strayed too close to the fighting then the entire battalion could have been overrun. Of the four battalions in the brigade the regular Argyll’s battalion had fared best. The motor rifle regiment that had swept to the south of the promontory had received the undivided attention of the MLRS batteries. One hundred and forty one Czech armoured fighting vehicles littered the flood plain, well short of the Scottish battalion. Every single vehicles in the regiment had been taken out in one salvo of what the gunners called ‘grid square removal’, delivering almost 42,000 submunitions to the area occupied by the enemy unit. No. 1 Company, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards had ceased to exist as a unit and the survivors were divided up amongst the remaining two rifle companies but the majority went to 2 Company.
The 2nd Battalion Light Infantry and 1st Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders had gained a breathing space whilst the Czech 5th Tanks, 23rd Motor Rifle and tattered remnants of 21st Motor Rifle Regiments secured a bridgehead on the western bank and the follow on division passed through and into the attack. It struck the Light Infantry and Highlanders and the juncture of the two units whilst they were recovering from the obligatory artillery bombardment, overrunning the battalions flank companies before crashing into the part-time soldiers of the 7th/8th Battalion. The weekend warriors held and the Hussars had swept in behind the Czech 11thTank Regiment from the Light Infantry position, creating havoc and killing the 11th’s commander before withdrawing.
To the north-east of Leipzig the US 10th Mechanised Division had held its ground against the worst that the Russian 8th Motor Rifle Division could throw at it but they were running low on all types of anti-armour munitions. On the right of the NATO line the French 1st Armoured Division had beaten off the first attack against it and had counter-attacked, drawing off enemy air assets that would otherwise have made the British brigades situation worse.
At Leipzig/Halle airport, the fighting had been furious and the US airborne troops soon ran low on ammunition. After five hours’ of fighting the Americans had been encircled and the Russians had called upon them to surrender. The US troops had sent their reply in deed rather than words by closing with their Russian counterparts in the biggest single bayonet charge by American troops since the United States Marine Corps assault on Belleau Wood in the final year of WW1. The Americans had burst through the Russians at their thinnest point to rejoin NATO lines but left half of their number behind, dead or wounded, including their commanding officer.
The 82nd Airborne earned three more Medals of Honour in the space of six hours’ in their fight against overwhelming numbers, two were posthumous.
With the conference out of the way, General Shaw updated the president on the situation in the Pacific. The picture was clearer now that they knew they could trust what their own satellites showed them. Taiwan was about to fall and two PLAN invasion fleets were already enroute to the Japanese islands and the largest island in the Philippines, Luzon. Despite the number of Chinese missiles intercepted by the Japanese defence forces, the Chinese had more missiles with which to attack, than Japan had to defend itself with.
“You will notice also Mr President, that there has been no move made against South Korea, by either the North nor the PRC,” he looked meaningfully at the president before stating. “It is the opinion of the JCS that this lack of action indicates that they intend to starve the ROK’s and our forces out. They have no need to expend any effort on their part sir, because they expect to own the Pacific and all access to Korea by land, air and sea.”
The president was thoughtful for a few moments before he spoke. “I think I know you well enough now general, to know you have some point to make, so spit it out!”
“Sir, we cannot resupply or support our troops there for very much longer, the way things are going. They can be of more use elsewhere… such as defending Australia. We estimate that in one week they will be cut-off and beyond our assistance to help, the Pacific is slowly closing to us, at least we can support them in Australia, and they will be fulfilling a vital role, rather than waiting to die or go into captivity.” The general could see the hesitation on the chief executives face, they had treaties with South Korea and substantial business interests there, so he added.
“What the PRC are doing to Japan, with their long range bombardment will be done to the forces in South Korea… get them out now sir, fuck congress, fuck the senate and every other critic. Those boys and girls can come back at a later date, and kick the communists out of Seoul.”
“Okay, general … leave the politics to me, give the orders, withdrawal from South Korea to Australia. Let’s hope to hell their next move isn’t from Australia, to defensive positions on Long Island… what news on the John F Kennedy?”
“As you will recall, they have joined up with the Prince of Wales and repairs are on-going, but we expect them to begin launching for their strike on the enemy carriers within the hour. It coincides with a satellite pass but there is a storm front moving in, if you wish you can watch for yourself providing, there is no over cast, sir?”
The president nodded.
“I’m not sure how I feel about watching those men and women go into combat from the safety of this bunker, so I’ll pass on that, ok?” The president knew that if he watched any of his people being killed, it would haunt his dreams to his dying day.
The head of his secret service detail entered the command centre and chose a position where not only could he catch the president’s eye; it would also be hard for the president to avoid making eye contact with him. When that happened he diplomatically pointed to the watch on his wrist before withdrawing to the door, but did not leave the room, the president knew this because he cast a surreptitious eye over his shoulder five minutes later, the man was still there, staring right back at him.
Once he had finished with matters he could not possibly foist onto someone else, the president left his staff to continue business in his absence and went to his room.
When he was not engaged in national business, the president was living in a 10’x10’ concrete room that had once been the domain of an air force colonel. His personal physician had recommended that he have eight hours’ sleep a day and his secret service detail were enforcing it. They were not pulling their side arms as a threat to ensure he followed doctors’ orders; they were more insidious than that, they played on his conscience, reminding him that his country needed him alert, not psychotic. The chief executive was curious as to the living conditions of an ordinary airmen, when this base had been a part of the nation’s nuclear deterrent, he rather imagined that the airman was not paid nearly enough if it meant living in anything more grim than this room. The First Lady and his children were up in the Rockies at another location and he missed them. The short calls on the videophone hardly qualified as a family relationship and he did not have any photographs of them here, all of those were back in the half-demolished White House. The grey walls of his room were devoid of any adornment apart from a framed instruction on fire drills and the ceiling light was little more than a bulb and toughened glass with a wire guard.